Page 47 of Disillusioned (A Lay of Ruinous Reign #2)

She broke off, sickened and panting. What was this?

Must her conscience be so prudish? Lilac fought back, dug her nails into the cushions on either side of her and leaned toward him again, hoping to drown out the resurfaced thoughts of Garin upstairs, with his whores…

But Casmir planted his hands on her shoulders, gently holding her back .

“I can see you are hesitant,” he purred. “What is it you want?”

“I want you.” The words felt foreign as they exited her mouth. Her shaking fingertips trailed her collarbone, where she pulled one of her sleeves off her shoulder, exposing her throat.

Casmir’s eyes narrowed warningly. “That’s not what you want.”

She ignored him, rocking forward onto his erection and willing him to put his hands on her.

He only steadied her in place again. “As much as I would love to,” he breathed, “I cannot, Your Majesty. Have you had anything to drink tonight?”

Her face fell as she pulled back and studied his sobered expression. “I haven’t. Why?”

Casmir’s nostrils flared in her direction. He was scenting her.

“Stop it. Stop that.”

“You’ve had the Dragondew Mead.”

Lilac leaned away, scowling. “The what? No, I haven’t had anything to drink. Not since before Myrddin portaled us here.”

“He didn’t portal you,” he repeated, lifting a hand and smoothing her hairline.

“That’s what the Fair Folk do. He teleports.

” When he pulled his hand away, she caught a glimpse of shimmering moisture on his fingertips.

The spilled drink from the balcony . “Dragondew Mead is what they offer the ladies and gents who work here. It’s optional, but it’s not unheard of for patrons to get their hands on it by bribing someone at the bar.

It isn’t hard to obtain on busy nights such as this. ”

“It was only a few drops. Someone spilled it from the balcony.” Her hand went to her hair, her mask, attempting to wipe the rest of the moisture off. “What is it? What does it do?”

“It is made from the Sea Holly honey from Brest. It encourages arousal, only very slightly. Improves one’s stamina in bed, their performance. Their climax.”

“People drink whole cups of those?” A dribble into her mouth shouldn’t have been enough to make her feel this way, like she needed to be touched.

“Sometimes two.” Casmir cleared his throat, regarding her warily. “I’m not sure you need any more, though.”

She reached down, considering, and began to fumble with the large silver clasp on his belt. “Then make me come.” It would be a welcome favor, and she wasn’t sure if doing it herself would help. Her muscles were seizing, burning.

His growing grin, the long fangs beneath them were all too tempting. He gazed up at her, his striking red eyes studying her. There was a look there that made her stop.

Pity .

“You’re lovely, Your Majesty, and I would be honored to participate in whatever devious scheme of revenge you are out for tonight.” His hand found hers, his fingers trailing up her forearm and giving her goosebumps as he lightly squeezed on her wrist. “Yet, I regretfully must refrain.”

The pressure on her arm made her jump, her core quiver. Lilac gasped at the reaction his light touch sent throughout her body.

Her cheeks burned. She would not beg for his attention the way she had Garin’s. “Of course,” she said, her heartbeat palpable in every part of her body. She pulled her arm away, hating the words at the tip of her tongue. “I am sorry for acting this way.”

Casmir quickly waved off her apology. “Don’t. It’s the mead, and your obvious attraction to vampires. It is something you cannot help—and neither can we. Unfortunately, you reek of the Trevelyan boy.”

She… reeked of him? Lilac gripped the table and slid off him, head pounding. The thought of Garin again, him with another woman—with multiple women—undressed and covered in blood flashed through her mind again, unbidden.

“His essence, his scent covers you.” He smiled, and while his mouth might have been teasing, his eyes were kind. “And you cannot stop thinking of him, can you?”

She glanced around. No one was watching them, but she wanted to go back to the door. She was embarrassing herself. She needed air. To her surprise, Casmir gently sat up and scooted back to make more room for her on the bench.

“See?”

“I don’t understand. It’s been days since I’ve seen him.

” Casmir’s words haunted her. She motioned at herself, at the rose-colored kirtle and the absent oils Yanna had washed from her hair under scalding water—recalling all the grime Isabel had scrubbed from her nails after she’d pushed herself to exhaustion, attempting to manage the kingdom through the toils of Garin’s punishing influence before languishing like some love-burdened specter.

Yesterday, after her fainting spell, she vaguely recalled Madame Kemble suggesting a trip to the shore might fix her in time for the ball.

She would love one now, if not to walk into the sea.

“What do you mean, I reek of him?” She glared at Casmir, tugging her dress back onto her shoulder. “I’ve bathed !”

“It does not matter, young one. Not when a vampire has claimed you. You are off-limits.”

“Claimed?” A sound of disgust escaped her lips.

“You belong to him. Or, will by the end of the night,” he said from the corner of his mouth.

“I do not belong to anyone,” she said, but blood flooded her cheeks, her ears.

“Myrddin was the one who ordered me to convince Garin to leave the brothel before he stuck this mask on me. Permanently, until I complete his task.” She scowled, unable to help herself, knowing she shouldn’t divulge any more information to the vampire than she already had.

“And yet you came to find him on your own accord. Just how do you think you were able to leave?” Just then, he looked past her. “Ah. Merci, mon amour .” Lilac turned to see him reach past her and retrieve a tankard from the tray of the masked woman who’d appeared at the table.

“My pleasure.” The woman smiled at Lilac before flouncing away.

“I left because his entrancement on me lifted the moment I’d tried to obey his orders of accepting a proposition that would save my kingdom. There were no propositions.” She purposefully didn’t mention Albrecht’s letter.

“Is that what it was?” Casmir made a little noise in the back of his throat and lifted his drink. A toast. “And you were about to romance me just now. To prove what, exactly?”

“Don’t flatter yourself. I wasn’t trying to romance you. I was trying to fuck you, if it wasn’t clear.”

“You both are fitted for one another, that’s certain,” he said with a rough laugh. “Anyway, I won’t be the one to bed you tonight.” He lifted his brows in consideration. “You should get a human to please you. They aren’t upheld by vampiric law, and better he killed them than me.”

She’d been so determined to fuck Casmir, it hadn’t occurred to her what the consequence of her spite and lust might be—other than Garin’s jealousy, and getting back at him for entrancing her and then ending up here.

If she had somehow skirted the bounds of Garin’s entrancement, she’d still left the castle to find him, hadn’t she?

“If a vampire encroaches upon someone else’s property ,” he explained, waving the tankard at the fearful realization dawning on her face, “then the regnant is allowed a duel. Personally, I wouldn’t balk at the opportunity to lay the lad on his arse, but then I’d never be allowed at his family’s cozy little inn again. Plus…”

Lilac followed his gaze to the staircase across the tavern, up to the balcony.

“No one in their right mind would dare challenge him tonight.” There was an edge to his tone, a concern matching Myrddin’s.

As the words sank in, he took a swig, and when he put the cup down, his lips were tainted in red. He licked them clean. “It isn’t uncommon that blood bonds go awry, especially when inadvertently formed and the first thing the regnant wants is to be rid of his thrall.”

“He did not want to be rid of me,” she snapped, willing the fearful anger rising with every heavy breath to fade.

He wanted to get a rise from her. “Garin explained what thralls are, how they work and what he did to me in order to save me.” She was unsure of how much Casmir knew, and it was impossible to tell with the way he watched her with intent patience.

She lowered her voice. “He and the witches both confirmed it wasn’t nearly enough to invoke a blood bond, even of the first degree. ”

Casmir reached out—all of the suaveness and hunger with which he’d touched her arm just moments ago, gone—and awkwardly petted her on the shoulder.

“I would agree, and he’d said the witch and Bastion had monitored his process.

Yet, I do find it alarming that, what are supposed to be the mild symptoms of an incomplete blood exchange appear otherwise. ”

It was hard to tell in the low light, but it looked like the curiosity with which he was eyeing her had morphed into wonder.

“Lorietta said the rules of all magic are arbitrary,” she said softly.

Casmir only shook his head in answer and took a swig from his tankard again, but Lilac’s arm shot out and grabbed the handle. In shock, he released it and watched her slam it back down onto the table.

“Tell me what you know,” she demanded .